Disappointment In Our Fellow Americans Is Temporary. Good Trouble Is Permanent.
Last edited Thu Nov 5, 2020, 02:56 AM - Edit history (2)
I know I'm disappointed in every single last Trumper, near and far, but I wouldn't characterize the whole nation based on its worst.
America's population is 330,000,000. (2010 Census, rounded up by media until the 2020 figure is out)
So far 68,537,064 American have voted for Trump. (tonight's updated AP count)
So far, that's 21% of the nation -- which belies the feeling kicking around lately that says we have to live with the disappointing "half" the country. As if we're evenly and permanently split.
A look at our numbers could help our outlook on fellow Americans.
Even if we just include adults, subtract the 74,000,000 under age 18, and the 10,000,000 undocumented immigrants who can't vote, and talk about voting age adults in the nation (244,200,000), Trump voters are still only 28% of all voting age Americans. Still not representative when speaking of America.
72% of American adults is much more representative of anything that could be said about all of America.
So when you hear the word half used, it kinda sounds as if the speaker means we're a clearly split nation. Even if that's unintentional, it distorts and exaggerates the power of those who disappoint us, which is not considerate or fair to us. It's more thought and talk that disempowers us.
In the heat of uncertainty in 2020, we disappointed should also remember that this is not how Biden looks at Americans in general, no matter his feelings.
Unfounded, ungrounded claims show distrust and irrational cynicism that shouldn't be passed around as anything but how the smaller numbers feel.
Americans of the 72% are beat down enough just trying to beat off gaslighting from their own leaders' contempt and racist policies and economic oppression without feeling that fellow Americans would pile on their disappointment.
A look at history can also help. It reminds me that when I'm disappointed in Americans, they're like me, born into a system they didn't make. They haven't been able to see it clearly or even if they do, they haven't been able to think or live their way out of it. It helps to remember that from the start, Thomas Jefferson didn't foresee the need to help future Americans live up to his ideal of the informed citizen when he chose not to make education a fundamental constitutional right. Or human equality.
Schools not only reflect the public, but the public's values of putting their money where their mouth is. Schools since Jeffersons' day reinforce class hierarchy. The more less educated there are, the less time and money they have to invest in education, the more easily they're persuaded to "make choices" by privatizers, whose PR attacks on teachers, "urban" dangers, etc., partly explains the downward drift of public attitudes about the worth of public education. And the pubic's own worth.
Which means that public education needs a renewed commitment by our party.
It won't happen within 50 different state school systems, because it hasn't in 200 years.
73% of Americans have little or no more than high school education attainment.
Only 27% of Americans have an actual college degree (wikipedia under "educational attainment" ).
As we see the Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS generation now step up to vote, we might think there's some Jeffersonian education going on between high schools and the Internet. But that's not enough to qualify as systematic progress.
When Biden wins, Congress, through a National Education Incentive Act (or the Cash for Smarts Act, or some other title), can get 50 states to upgrade public education geared toward college entry, because too much public education is everything but.
States can get incentive cash from Congress to help upgrade curricula in STEM and humanities, tech and multi-media labs; add an extra year to high school and whole foods to cafeterias. We've tried before, but this time we commit under a budget Title.
Congress can then reward high school graduates with free tuition upon college admission, a door into the systematic exposure of higher education's systematic teaching of the range and depth of content subjects; reading stamina; short and long term analysis; communications and writing skills ...
Such that we'd eventually get a majority of smart people in America. Also discontented, activist people. Congress could do worse than commit to more national youth initiatives, even related jobs programs in a gap year.
A federal commitment to subsidizing university level education is similar to how Obama explains the long term payoff of voting -- it's never 100%, but it's better at realizing the Jeffersonian ideal of the informed citizen.
Then we can get the numbers to ratify an amendment that makes education a fundamental constitutional right. And the ERA. And a voting ERA. End the Electoral College. The smarter our citizenry, the less bad trouble and the more good trouble they can make.
= new reply since forum marked as read
This was a very thoughtful post and something I needed to read. 
We can remember, I think, that we can think our way out of this so we don't get stuck in division. 
Nothing new about having to struggle for it.
